CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Utah men's basketball team picked up its first road win of the 2023 calendar year with its dominant 63-44 victory over Oregon State Thursday night inside Gill Coliseum.
Thursday's win marks just the third win for Utah inside Gill Coliseum since joining the league in 2011-12 and the first time Utah has swept the season series against the Beavers. The victory moved the Runnin' Utes to 15-7 overall and 8-3 in Pac-12 play with just a half a game separation between them and first place No. 8/7 UCLA. The eight wins doubles Utah's win total from last season in league play and the first time it has doubled its win total from year-to-year in league play since the 1989-90 and 1990-91 season as a member of the WAC.
Utah's offense came out ready to play and jumped out to a 10-0 run against the Beavers before going on an 8-0 run midway through the half to lead 25-11 after back-to-back triples from
Wilguens Jr. Exacte and
Lazar Stefanovic.
The Runnin' Utes doubled things up on Oregon State (8-13, 2-8 Pac-12) at the half, taking a 32-16 lead thanks to converting all five offensive boards into 10 points. The Utah defense was also strong in the first half, holding the Beavers to 16 points – the lowest points allowed in a half since holding OSU to 14 points on Feb. 19, 2015, on the road.
Second half action was much of the same for Utah as the defense clamped down on the Beavers and held them to just 44 points on 34-percent shooting. The defense nearly held the Beavers without a 3-pointer all game until Jordan Pope was able to knock down a three on the team's 15th attempt with just 5:54 remaining in the game.
Gabe Madsen led the team with 13 points Thursday night – 11 of which came in the second half.
Branden Carlson finished with 12 points and six rebounds with a pair of blocks while
Rollie Worster added 12 points, six rebounds and seven assists.
BY THE NUMBERS
Utah outscored the Beavers 16-5 in second-chance points on 12 offensive boards … the Utes assisted on 16 of its 22 made shots … Thursday's win marked the first time since 2014-15 (4 times) since the Utes have held multiple conference opponents under 45 points.
UP NEXT
The Utes now head down highway 99 to Eugene to close out their road swing this Saturday, Jan. 28, against the Oregon Ducks. Ted Robinson will have the call alongside Bill Walton on the Pac-12 Networks broadcast as Utah looks for its first win in the EUG since 2017.
For the latest news and information on the Runnin' Utes men's basketball program, fans can stay connected online at
www.UtahUtes.com and on social media by following @UtahMBB on
Facebook,
Twitter and
Instagram.
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